Black Flame
by Griffin Wish
Summary: A daughter of an unlikely pair, a maiden goddess who is non-hostile and gentle, and literal death himself. Hethilea is not a god, sent to Camp Half-Blood to live. Suddenly, she is thrust on an unexpected quest. And on her way, she hopes to find the reason she remains mortal. Even if it includes her on flame burning out.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One-

I cupped my hands above the dying hearth at Camp Half-Blood. The dimming embers barely lit up the dining pavilion. Even though I promised Chiron that I would try not to practice my trick a thousand times, I wasn't tempted to keep it. I slowly spread my hands and the embers glowed brightened. I stretched my hands as far back as I could go and the fire rekindled itself. Sparks flew towards the ashes and somehow set alit, I wasn't surprised. I've done it a million times in secret, but Chiron didn't know that, he was just worried that I'd burn everything to Tartarus. I slid back into my sleeping bag and faced the dancing flames. Unlike all the demigods in the camp, I liked sleeping outside. That wasn't a problem to Annabeth, she didn't have to design a cabin. Plus I would be the only one with no siblings, so what's the need for a cabin. I wasn't even a demigod. I was a technical full on god. Except, somehow, I was mortal. I wasn't supposed to be born either. My mother is a maiden goddess, Hestia. My father? Thantos. I have no idea how that work, but it made me really powerful, and somehow, mortal. Maybe that was the price for being born. I stretched my raven black wings in which I inherited from my father.

My eyes fell shut and I welcomed the sleep. I seeped back into an old memory.

 _Chiron's face turned pale when he answered the door. My mother shuffled, out of her usual nine year old girl form, she was now disguised as a woman in her early twenties. Either way she was beautiful. I flapped my wings nervously and stepped back from the towering centaur. Chiron stepped onto the porch, ducking under the doorway._

" _Hestia?" His face attempted to mask uncertainty and bewilderment._

" _Chiron, this is my..." Hestia's face explained the struggle of her sentence, "...daughter, her father was not able to come with me."_

 _I flapped my wings, shaking out the loose baby feathers that lived with me for nine years. I wanted to launch away from the Big House and fly away forever now that I could._

" _Thanatos, her father..." Chiron mused, "well, what's your name?"_

" _Hethilea." I whispered, barely managing to use my voice._

 _Chiron nodded, then turned to my mother, lowering his voice, "So why do you bring a young goddess to Camp Half-Blood."_

" _I'm not immortal, or a goddess." I blurt at regular volume, I didn't know why, but I spilled everything out, "I'm mortal and I don't know why. That's why Mom wants me here, because I'm a mortal but with godly parentage, so I'd just be a demigod. I can't do stuff that gods can."_

 _I burned with embarrassment, feeling as scorched as I had been when I tried to control Hephaestus' forge's flames. Demigods were gathering around us to eavesdrop on a talk that was taking to long. Chiron nodded understandingly and shooed the campers away with a glare. With that, Hestia disappeared with a warm soft light. I excused myself and ran to a pine holding a golden skin of a sheep and sat on the ground, silently crying to myself. I heard a hissing sound. I wiped my tears and turned towards the sound. A beautiful dragon flicked its tongue at me. I smiled._

" _Hello."_

 _More hissing. I realized I had ran to a pine that held a story Hestia told me long ago._

" _You're Ladon." I reached out and pat his head._

 _Other campers were back doing the original activities like nothing happened. I was glad I could have some time alone._

 _I scooted closer to Ladon and ran my hand along his scales. He didn't seemed bothered._

" _I guess you and I have a lot in common. We're different. You're a dragon, and I'm..." My voice faltered. What was I? A demigod, a god? I didn't know what to think anymore. I leaned on Ladon, trying not to cry. I heard footsteps._

" _Get away from Ladon!" A voice screamed from across the field. I looked up. Ladon flicked his tongue again. I rubbed Ladon on the back and looked at the dirt._

 _I heard hoof steps and footsteps, but I didn't look up again. I knew Chiron was coming, but I stayed by Ladon. Then it hit me. I was sitting next to a dragon that could kill people. But why wasn't it killing me?_

" _Hethilea! Ladon can kill." Chiron voice projected from above me._

 _I looked up at Chiron and squinted from the sun, "I know."_

" _Find something else to do, I'm surprised you're still alive."_

" _Thanks." I grunted._

" _This is Will Solace, the boy who first noticed you." Chiron stepped out of the way and two boys, much older than me, waved._

 _I stood, "Bye, Ladon. I'm Hethilea."_

" _Will." The blonde one said._

" _Nico." The other grunted, "You have this… aura of death around you, daughter of Hades?"_

" _Nope. Thanatos."_

" _Oh, the wings."_

" _Yeah." I muttered awkwardly._

" _Thank you for noticing Hethilea getting a little too close to Ladon, Will. You two may go now." Chiron nodded at them dismissively._

 _I decided to have some fun, flying around, inspecting the area. I lifted off the ground and headed towards a climbing wall, dripping what looked like some sort of red liquid. I flew closer and noticed sparks flying off the liquid._

" _Oh, its lava." I laughed. I set down on the ground and grabbed a stone._

 _I heaved myself up, dodging random dripping lava. I had an idea. Standing on the climbing wall, I let go of my handholds and spread my hands out at the lava. Fire decorated the climbing wall and I let the lava go back to normal. I jumped off the wall after reaching the top, and caught myself with my wings at the last second. I flew around more and got a little too ambitious. I flew higher and spotted two giant birds flying towards me. As it entered view I realized it was two flying horses, pegasi. I waved at the driver of the chariot, whose eyes bugged out, and I followed it back to the ground._

 _I decided to walk from then. I received puzzled, amazed, and jealous looks from the campers who saw my wings. I ended up wandering the strawberry fields, helping the satyrs because they were like me, with an extra feature. Apparently they thought I was a great help flying around and quickly grabbing all the perfect, red strawberries. I plopped on the grass, exhausted and a conch horn filled the air with the commanding call. I followed the other campers, who were heading to the dining pavilion and I sat down right in front of the hearth._

 _Campers threw me aggravated look._

" _You need to go to go to your table." The camper's gentle voice surprised me. I looked up to see a girl with blonde hair, probably eighteen. "Have you been claimed? Oh, probably Thanatos."_

" _No. Well...Yeah." I murmured nervously, "and uh, Hestia."_

 _The camper's face morphed into confusion._

 _Suddenly the sparks flew out wildly. The campers near the hearth backed up fearfully. I sighed and reached into the flames. Screams filled the air as my fingers gripped around a hilt. I pulled it out, my arm unscathed. Gasps of amazement rose around me. Black leather grip cradled my hand. The hilt was ebony and rosewood, black, but tinged with red. The blade was Stygian Iron. The bottom of the hilt was an inverted torch, a symbol of my father and perhaps my mother, the flame. The bottom never fed on the hilt and kept burning without fuel. I remembered playing with it as a child. It was a helpful tool, I could set things on fire and slice them up. A note was written in black ink. It was from my father. I skimmed the words and pulled a black ink pen from my pocket and scratched a note and threw it back into the flames. The paper disintegrated and the sparks flew out. I grabbed a sheath from the hearth, black leather again, and sheathed the sword. The campers looked on in amazement._

 _Chiron pounded the ground with his hoof. "Hail, Hethilea! Daughter of Hestia, goddess of the hearth, and Thanatos, god of death."_

 **So, here we go! We're entering the story of a mortal goddess. I'm sorry that I haven't been posting and creating stories and dropping them, it's kind of my nature. Just so you don't get confused, I changed my user to Griffin Wish, but I'm still the same person as DandelionGriffinCloud. Well, I hope you enjoyed! See you in the next chapter!**

 **-Griffin Wish**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two-

The sudden temperature drop shocked me awake. I rubbed my eyes groggily, looking at the hearth. The fire snuffed out while I was asleep, causing a sudden change in temperature. I sighed and rolled up my sleeping bag. The sound of clanging made me jump and I whipped out my sword. Ever since I had figured out how to control the inverted torch on my sword, I had slept with it. I willed the torch fire to burn back on. I scanned around the camp, standing up, nothing dangerous. I checked my watch, 5:36 in the morning. I shoved my sleeping bag into my backpack and walked towards the noise. I shifted the backpack to make more room for my wings to feel comfortable. I was aging by years, my tenth birthday due in exactly seven days, just like a regular mortal would, which depressed me, I should've been able to age as fast as an immortal. But whenever I thought like that, it always brought me to the same question, "Why am I mortal?"

Sighing, I spotted a construction crew hammering away at a house. There were three other houses, rather small and I stopped in front of them.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Another cabin complex. We're making it upon request by Annabeth. It's for Hestia." The worker overlooking the construction finally turned to face me, "Oh you're Hestia's kid. Yeah, this one's for you."

"But why not build a cabin for Thanatos?"

"It is more common for Thanatos, uhm, demigod children. If there are more Thanatos' kids, we might as well reserve a whole cabin. Also, we should honor Hestia too. It's long overdue." He turned to the construction workers, "Alright gang! Move it to the hearth."

A group of eight giant pegasi started pushing the four houses, two pegasi pulling on each house. They moved it to where it was approximately twenty yards away from the dining pavilion, which was probably on purpose and definitely fitting. The workers fanned out back in the direction of the Hephaestus cabin after taking off the harnesses on the pegasi and sending them to their stables.

I looked at the four tiny houses. I remembered seeing the twin sisters from Nike, Holly and Laurel having different colored cabins, but they never asked the construction crew. And I remember passing by, hearing Annabeth instructing them on how to change the colors of the paint. I put my hand on the white painted wall of the nearest house and imagined the color of marshmallows. The ones perfectly roasted into a crispy golden brown. When I opened my eyes, the cabin just like the color I imagined. Smiling to myself, I stepped inside. I figured I had a lot to work to do. I dropped my backpack into a corner and stretched my wings. My sheathed sword thumped against my jeans as I reached towards the wall. The wall turned into a warm orange from the bottom, fading into a soft yellow as it got closer to the ceiling. I rearranged the furniture, changed the colors, stored my items into the proper areas, and finally, I was done. I glanced at my wristwatch, 5:45. I hauled myself to the bedroom and crashed onto the bunk's mattress.

A conch horn scared me awake, and I reached for my sword, as it was now an instinct. As soon as I grabbed the hilt, I remembered that the conch horn was the signal for breakfast. I went to eat at the dining pavilion. I sat at the Thanatos cabin table without anyone, for I didn't have any half siblings. The dryads brought me a plate filled with fruit and two boiled eggs, and also received some guava juice. I ate the food, ready to taste the deliciousness, and swallowed the strawberries. I savored the fruit's juice. The egg energized me and I cleared the plate in minutes. I moved on to the guava juice and drained the cup with one swallow.

The day was pretty much an average day at Camp Half-Blood. I especially was looking forward to combat training, I always did. I unsheathed my sword, who I named Deathfire ever since I got it back via hearth, and faced my sparring opponent. It was Harley, the nine year old Hephaestus kid. Fire against fire, nine year old against nine year old. We were pretty evenly matched. Harley grinned and whipped out his flamethrower, plastered with smiley face stickers.

"Nice wings, Hethilea, did you make them?" Harley's eyes gleamed with excitement.

"They're real."

"Cool! Can you come to the forge and let me study them? I want to make wings, but I can't figure out how."

With that we went into action. Harley's flamethrower spit fire, I dodged to the side, feeling the heat scorch my arm. I turned my torch and made it absorb the heat, sucking it into the flame. I surged forward and another wave of fire raced forward. I used the blade of Deathfire to block it, despite the fact that the heat was enough to melt the sword, my Stygian sword absorbed the heat and the blade burst into flames, a sword with both fire and Stygian Iron. I rushed at Harley and slashed at him. Amazingly, he blocked with his flamethrower, so I moved Deathfire in a semicircle movement where my blade pushed the flamethrower downwards. I pushed the flamethrower to the ground, my arms throbbing from fighting Harley's resistance, and drove my sword into the ground, bring Harley's flamethrower out of his grip and it clattered onto the ground.

"That was cool! Now I'm going to upgrade it so it's useful in close range." He looked excited.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what it comes out as. Good luck!" I panted, falling on the ground.

"Thanks. Uh, what's your name?"

"Hethilea, I think Leah is easier, it's more like a name a mortal would have, so call me Leah."

"Ok, bye!"

I stood and sheathed my sword, extinguishing the flame with a thought. I trudged back to my cabin to take a quick shower and relax before dinner.

I looked in front of me, a tired face answering my reflection. My hair was wet and flying all over the place. With a sigh, I summoned some fire and dried my hair in seconds. Unfortunately, it dried messily and I scrambled around for a comb, I didn't want to receive disgusted looks from the Aphrodite table, the one I had to pass before reaching my table. I quickly brushed my hair and looked in the mirror. Straight black hair fading into a soft brown as it reached the bottom.

I nodded approvingly, then tied it into a quick ponytail to get it out of my eyes, two mismatched eyes, one jet black, the other firewood brown. I sat down on the couch and unsheathed Deathfire. I wet a towel and rubbed the blade. In the act of doing so, my thoughts flew to the campstore, wondering if they had anything like sword polish. I dismissed the ridiculous thought because if something bad happened, I would be killing monsters and wouldn't have time to polish the blade if Deathfire was constantly murdering monsters. I dried Deathfire and grabbed my jacket just as the conch horn blew. I stepped out the door, the afternoon heat submitting to the night's cold that brushed my face. I sheathed Deathfire and entered the dining pavilion, sitting at Thanatos' table. The heat of the hearth chased the nighttime chill away from my face and I was served soup with ribs. I walked to the hearth and scraped in the best pieces of meat and a couple spoonfuls of soup. I went back to the picnic table, the smell of my meal in the fire lingering on my nose. For every camper who burned a portion of their meal, I silently thanked them. Maybe I was a goddess, a mortal one, I decided, I smelled every meal they threw in and appreciated differently than how the other campers described its smell. I hungrily dug into my meals and the sun had just started to retreat behind the tall trees of Camp Half-Blood.

As I was finishing the last rib and starting onto the soup, a redheaded girl stumbled into the dining pavilion. Everybody went silent. The name popped into my mind, Elizabeth Rachel Dare, our Oracle.

"Rachel?" Chiron prompted.

"Prophecy." Her face scrunched up and returned to normal, but her voice split into three, with a shiver I realized she was issuing a prophecy, a prophecy to a quest.

" _In the heart of night,_

 _All worries lost in fright._

 _Return her blade,_

 _In the shadowy glade._

 _Every stone unturned,_

 _The fire's wings shall burn._ "

 **So I'm ending this on a prophecy because it gives you this ominous feeling, but it's pretty obvious to me what it means (probably because I'm planning this fanfiction...) and I hope you enjoyed! See you in the next chapter!**

 **-Griffin Wish**


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